How to Measure for Square Foot of an Area

Landscape Area Messurment

Here's the simple way to measure the area that you want worked on:


Start by dividing the area to be worked into squares, rectangles, and triangles, (as in the diagram above)

Area A is a square, with 12-foot sides.
Area B is a rectangle, with 18x20-foot dimensions.
Area C is a triangle, with 12- and 18-foot sides forming a right angle. (Remember: a right angle is 90 degrees!)


Figure the area of each shape.

Area A is 144 square feet, (12 times 12).
Area B is 360 square feet, (18 times 20).
Area C is 108 square feet, (18 times 12, divided by 2).


Add the square footage of all areas to get 612 square feet, (144 + 360 + 108)

HINT: Add 5 to 10 percent, to account for the odd shaped areas that fall outside of the perfect squares, rectangles, and triangles.

In the example above, you would add about 60 square feet! 672 (612 + 60).

Please Enter the Square Foot of Area

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Please enter only area.

Initial RotoTilling
Use a Pick Axe to first Remove the old Grass and Weeds from the Soil. Then Use the Pick Axe to chop up the soil to allow proper use of the RotoTiller to get down 6" to 8" inches deep, then Use the RotoTiller and really till up the soil.

$180.00 Minimum Charge for RotoTilling

Tilling Cost (600 * $0.67) = $402.00

Any existing Schedule 40 PVC Spinkler pipes that we break while Tilling, we will of course fix for free. If we encounter 50 year old Galvanized Steal or Schedule 20 PVC it will need to be replaced at you the home owners cost, not ours, we are not responsible for 50 year old Galvanized Steal or Schedule 20 PVC. Any repairs that were needed before we began digging are not covered for free but can also be fixed for $125 an hour plus the cost of parts.

Small roots and rocks are to be expected and there will be no extra charge. Large Roots and Tree Stumps or Boulders and large rocks are not to be expected and there may be an additional charge of $125 an hour for the entire Crews time to remove this type of debris.

3 guys working on your crew
(600 sq ft / 400) + 1 extra guy. Minimum 3 guys.
3 *$35.00 = $ 105.00 per hour for repairs / extra labor


Self Disposal

Dispose of the Old Grass and Weeds in your City Trash Can yourself. We will pile up the trash and you the customer will fill your trash can each week in order to save on disposal fees.

Take it to the Dump

Have us dispose of the trash by hauling it away in our truck to the City Dump. The Dump charges us on average about $60.00 per ton, and we charge another $80.00 for our time and gas, So $140.00 for less than a ton. Each time the weight increases above each ton, the dump charges us more and we charge you the customer more, in $140.00 increments.

Hire a 3rd party waste disposal company, 10 yard low boy dumpster.

You the customer may find it more economical to hire another waste disposal company to haul away your trash resulting from this project. Each city is different and has a different set of rules. Each waste disposal company charges differently. Once there becomes 3 tons or more trash it may become more economical to hire your own waste disposal company to dispose of your trash resulting from this project.

"Increases $140 incrementaly"

Have you already hired a 3rd party waste disposal company?

At or above 3 tons We would have only taken away 3 * 2,000lbs/3 * 2 cubic yards of material @ $420.00. Vs we have seen 10 yard low boy dumpsters hired for as little as $375.00. $420.00 (for 3 tons / 6 cubic yards full) vs. 5 tons / 10 cubic yards for less money potentially ? Each city is different and each waste disposal company charges a different amount. RotoTillerGuy charges what we charge and another waste disposal company charges what they charge. It's up to you to decide how best to economically handle the disposal of the waste generated on your project.

The dump charges based on what kind of material is being disposed of. If your waste consists of grass and weeds and small amount of dirt the dump calls it green waste and they charge a lesser amount. If we mix wood and roots and cement and rocks the dump treats this as construction waste rather than green waste and they charge by the weight for construction waste and not green waste, a higher amount.

25/75 Composting - 3" Inch Layer

1 Cubic Yard contains 27 Cubic Feet.
1 Cubic Foot contains 12 1" layers that are 1 square foot
1 Cubic Foot also contains 4 3" inch layers that are 1 Square Foot, and so 1 Cubic Foot of Compost will cover 4 square feet of space.
12 times 27 would give us the amount of Square Feet in a Cubic Yard (324), but we need to find out how many Square Feet that are 3" inches thick in a Cubic Foot (12/3 = 4). 4 3" inch layers that are each 1 Square Foot are contained within 1 Cubic foot. So 4 times 27 will give us how many Square Feet can be covered in a 3" layer of Material that is contained within 1 Cubic Yard (108).

Your 499 Square Foot area / 1 Cubic Yard Covering 108 square feet = You will Need 4.62 Cubic Yards to cover your area with a 3" inch layer of Material

3 Cubic Yards delivered for $150.00
4.62/3 = 1.54 so 2 * $100 = $200.00 for Compost Material

There is a minimum charge of $150.00 for delivery of Compost. You can have us bring you less Compost, but it is essentially the same amount of work to bring less, and so the minimum charge is $150.00

Spreading and Secondary Tilling

499 sq ft * $0.33 = $164.67

RotoTillerGuys to Spread the Compost around 3" deep and then use the RotoTiller machine again to mix the Compost 6 to 8 inches deep into the soil.

No Grass Required

In case you want to just clear an area for Drought Tolerant or Xeroscaping, or a Vegetable Garden or a Flower Garden planter bed area so you don’t require grass.


499 sq ft* $0.045 cents = $22.45

Grass seed is a great way to save some real money, but Grass Seed is not even guaranteed by the producer of seed, the producer guarantees the seed to be free of weeds but that’s about it, nor are we in the position to be guaranteeing that seed will take and do well. Grass seed should not be an option when we know that Mother Nature is going to throw 100+ degrees our way, but during the winter months Mother Nature might even help out and rain and save some additional money on the water bill. Almost always there are areas that seem to do well and other areas that need to be filled in again with more seed. You will see which areas need to be filled in, in about 2 to 3 weeks. Also weeding and keeping unwanted things from growing is also your responsibility and part of the maintenance of your yard.


How to select what type of grass?

Do you have a dog ?
Do you have full sun vs shade ?
Do you have a Pine Tree or a Pepper Tree ?

499 sq ft* $0.45 cents = $224.55

The Sod farm does offer a guarantee on the sod to be free of disease or weeds, they only offer this guarantee if the soil has been properly prepped in preparation for the sod. We do the Prep Work properly so that the sod farms guarantee on the sod is in effect. But we do not offer a guarantee on our work, because we are not there every day making sure you the owner are monitoring and caring for the lawn like you need to on a daily basis. If sod needs to get replaced, we will come and replace it, but we need to be paid for our time and labor and materials. Because we tell you what the proper steps are (many of our competitors don’t even tell you what the proper steps should be) and because we actually do the proper Prep Work that we have spelled out on the Soil Prep page, we have not yet had to replace a lawn.

Delivery Fee= N/A

The Sod Farm charges this delivery fee, Not RotoTillerGuy !

$60.00 / $0.45 = 133.3 sq ft of sod
When it comes time to call and order the Sod, what we could do (if it makes financial sense) is order extra sod and just have extra sod and save on the delivery fee.

The Sod Farm charges $60.00 delivery fee when you are ordering less than 1000 sq ft. If you are ordering less than 500 sq ft they charge another $15.00 ($75.00) for delivery. The Sod Farm will not deliver less than 200 sq ft.

$15.00 / $0.45 = 33.3 sq ft

No Sprinkler System Required.

You already have an existing and fully functional Sprinkler System, or you just don’t want a sprinkler system and are planning on watering by hand yourself. Please keep in mind that the sod farm will not guarantee any sod that does not have a fully functional sprinkler system that is on an automatic timer.

New ($400 per contiguous 1000 sq. ft. Max Area)

Minimum Sprinkler System Req.

(Minimum 1 Sprinkler Systems Reqd) 1 * $400.00 = 400 ($400 per contiguous 1000 sq. ft. Max Area, 100 linear feet Max of Schedule 40 PVC, 12 Sprinkler Heads Max, based on there being ¾” supply pipe for volume with between 60 – 80 psi of water presure)

Copper Plumbing $300.00(minimum) (Copper Materials $100.00) (Specialized skilled labor $200.00)

Copper Plumbing 0 * $100.00 = $ 0 ($300.00(minimum) ,Copper Materials $100.00, Specialized skilled labor $200.00)

Required Hunter/Rainbird (Per valves $85 Plastic Hunter or Rainbird) (Per valves $125 Brass)

Note: Hunter/Rainbird $85 and brass $125

Valve 0 * $85.00 = $ 0

Valve Valve
Valves turn the water on or off to the Sprinkler System, and would need to be wired and connected to a Sprinkler Timer if the Valves are to be turned on and off on a programmed schedule. May require the addition of a $30.00 bit of Sprinkler Wire and the labor to run the wire from the Valves to the Timer and the actual programming of the timers schedule.

Timer ($160 Installed)

Select timer quality.

Timer 0 * $160 = $ 0

An Electrical outlet needs to be present either inside of the house or outside of the house, where the Timer is to be installed; and a wire leading from the Automatic Timer to the Valves needs to also be available. The timer will be wired up to the valves, plugged into the electrical outlet for power, and programmed to run automatically on a schedule.

traditional-sprinklers Body_with_lid Rachio-Iro OrbitB-Hyve

If you already have/had a timer, and the old wire that goes from the Timer to the Valves is still there and undamaged or cut, we can reuse the existing wire.

If you have never had an automatic sprinkler system it stands to reason that there isnt a wire yet in place that carries the signal from the Timer to the Valves and you need this wire. Or if the your wire has been damaged a new wire needs to be installed.

100 linear feet maximum. If there is a cement patio or pathways or other obstacles in the way of course there will be additional labor to be considered and added for the effort to run this wire.

Repair/Extra Labor

Time Required.

3 guys working on your crew

(499 sq ft / 400) + 1 extra guy. Minimum 3 guys.

3 *$35.00 = $ 105 per hour for repairs / extra labor

Hours spent repairing your sprinkler system, or moving soil because you want things regraded because of a slope, or digging out roots or chunks of concrete or stone, or bad access to and from the work because of a flight of steps etc. Just generally if its extra work and slows the crew down and costs us an extra hour of work we gotta charge you an extra hour for the crew to be there doing the extra work. We aren’t afraid of good hard work, just that we need to charge for our time to do any extras.

Estimate / Bid

Soil Prep

  • Spreading Compost And Secondary RotoTilling $0.00
  • Total $0.00
  • Disposal
  • Total $0.00
  • Sod $0.00
  • Delivery Fee $0.00
  • Total $0.00
  • Irrigation System $0.00
  • Repairs/Extra Labor $0.00
  • Total $0.00
  • Grand Total $0.00
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